Mother’s Day on the Mall

National Review Online ^ | May 10, 2004 | Daniel J. Flynn

[jdege]

Mother’s Day on the Mall

Gunning for gun-free citizens.
By Daniel J. Flynn

The Million Mom March took place on Sunday. Roughly 999,000 moms decided to stay home.

The marchers who did show up, though, had a lot to say.

"I don't think guns should be legal," declared Joan Davis, who traveled to the Capitol from Manhattan. "I don't think the average person should have a gun."

"Ideally, I guess I would like to see a total ban on guns," held Bonnie Rock of suburban D.C. "But in reality, I would be satisfied with getting rid of the assault weapons and having some real bite to the laws in terms of people getting guns." Rock, who carried a sign reading "Bush: Whore of the NRA," believes the president is "destroying America." Rock explains: "He hasn't done anything right since he was selected to be president. So, there's nothing the man has done for the common good." She adds that she has already given serious thought to moving to Canada if George W. Bush wins reelection.

"If we had our druthers, [America] would be like England or Australia or other civilized countries," admits Dick Berman from Rockville, Maryland. "I think we should target getting guns out of the hands of civilians, period." Handgun murders, Berman believes, contribute to an "annual 9/11." His goal is "to get weapons off our streets, out of the hands of civilians. Only the police should have weapons."

Lisa Toomey, who flew all the way to Washington from the other Washington, explained: "I'd be happy with stricter guns laws." Ideally, Toomey admits, "I would just say no guns. That's where I'm at." She adds that Bush "is a terrorist."

From the podium, speakers — who included basketball coach Don Casey, former Montgomery County, Maryland police chief Charles Moose, and U.S. Representative Carolyn McCarthy — stressed the need to renew the assault-weapons ban. The agenda of many of the marchers, however, is a bit more ambitious.

Lost on the organizers, as well as the marchers, is the irony of holding a gun-control rally in Washington, D.C. More than a quarter century after the nation's capital banned nearly all private firearms, the city's gun-violence problem has not gotten any better. The latest statistics show that Washington is once again murder capital of the United States. For cities of greater than 500,000 people, the district's 262 killings in 2002 made its murder rate higher than Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, and other dangerous cities.

Perhaps this helps explain the sparse attendance at the Mother's Day rally — even in the midst of a national debate on renewing the assault-weapons ban.

Like a march that promises a million moms but delivers much less, gun control is an idea that sounds better in theory than it works in practice.

— Daniel J. Flynn, editor of www.flynnfiles.com , is the author of Why the Left Hates America .

[jdege]

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[Dog Gone]

She adds that she has already given serious thought to moving to Canada if George W. Bush wins reelection.

Go for it.

[July 4th]

Bought a crate of 9mm ammo on Sunday. Made me feel better about all of the idiots who were pissing their lives away on the mall.

[Buell_X1-1200]

His goal is "to get weapons off our streets, out of the hands of civilians. Only the police should have weapons."

Sheesh. A police state, huh? Paperz please. Your paperz are not in order.

[Buell_X1-1200]

Curious Question: Is a "Crate" the same thing as a "Case"? 2000 rounds?

[Publius]

From the podium, speakers — who included basketball coach Don Casey...

That caught my eye in a hurry. Casey was one of my gym teachers 40 years ago in New Jersey. He coached our high school basketball team to a number of state championships, went to coach at Temple University and then went pro.

I thought I knew Casey well enough because he lived only a few blocks from me, but I guess I was wrong.

[jdege]

Either way, I'm not impressed.

If you want me to notice, you'll have to buy ammo by the pallet.

[Straight Vermonter]

We need to ban guns to repeat the great success we have had in eradicating harmful drugs by banning them.

[July 4th]

In this case, yes. It was a regular 1,000 round case of ammo that came in a wooden box. Yeah, I'm not talking palette-sized. But that would be cool.

[ExSoldier]

The million moronic mom's are living proof that somebody slipped into the "gene pool" when the lifeguard wasn't watching!

Some folks are alive simply because it is illegal to kill them. It's my hope that, given enough time in a high crime area, they'll weed themselves out and provide us with another useful statistic.